Vol. XVII, No. i 



WASHINGTON 



January, 1906 



0= 



ATffiQMAL 



©(3IMIPIHIIKD 



MBAWi 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION: ITS MORAL 

 AND MATERIAL RESULTS *£)(J 



By General A. W. Greely, U. S. A. 



Chief Signal Officer 



THE spirit of human endeavor 

 has found few fields more 

 fruitful in sequential results 

 than that of geographical exploration. 

 As far as may be possible, in the brief 

 period allotted for this address, an en- 

 deavor will be made to present the 

 more important results, not only as re- 

 gards its material aspects, but also as 

 connected with its moral tendencies. 



The branches of geography now 

 treated are confined to economic, phys- 

 ical, and political phases to the exclu- 

 sion of bare outlines of land and water 

 distribution and mathematical demon- 

 strations. It is not the mere explorer 

 that engages our attention, but rather 

 the pioneers and settlers, whose close, 

 persistent, practical studies and labors 

 along agricultural, biological, and min- 

 eralogical lines have made known the 

 vast resources of the earth for useful 

 exploitation by the masses. 



The growth, development, and ulti- 

 mate limitation of nations are largely 

 influenced if not entirely due to geo- 



graphical environment. The location 

 of great centers of agriculture and com- 

 merce, of special industries, mining and 

 stockraising, is the outcome of careful 

 explorations of the special economic 

 resources on which their success de- 

 pends. 



It is of interest to note that the ne- 

 cessity and beneficence of explorations 

 are set forth in the earliest recorded 

 history. We read in the Old Testa- 

 ment: 



"Now the Lord had said to Abra- 

 ham : Get thee out of thy country, and 

 from thy kindred, and from thy father's 

 house into a land that I will show thee, 

 and I will make thee a great nation, 

 and I will bless thee, and make thy 

 name great." 



The prophecy to Abraham outlines 

 the means whereby a great nation was 

 created. Similar results have been not 

 infrequent in the world's history of ex- 

 plorations, whether applied to the Ro- 

 mans, to the Spaniards, or to the 

 Anglo-Saxons. Through such potent 



*An address delivered at the Tenth Celebration'of Founders' Day at the Carnegie Institute, 

 Pittsburgh, Pa., November 2, 1905. 



